The present invention relates to the distribution of packetized data over networks, and more particularly to an audio/video media server for distributed editing over networks using a low-resolution format or a high-resolution format, depending upon the available network bandwidth.
Existing media servers stream video and audio packets over a network under control of a server. A client consumes video at whatever rate the server sends the packets--the client consumes a contiguous movie. In other words the current media servers "push" media from the server to the client using a "stream" from the server. These servers are often called "video on demand" servers, however they refer to the delivery of contiguous movies, not in-progress material suitable for an edit session.
In an editing environment a client is looking to put together a "movie" from a plurality of video clips that may be distributed over a plurality of servers. With the "video on demand" servers the timing of the video to the client is determined by the servers. To provide concatenated clips, especially when a first clip is from one server and a second clip is from another server, the timing issue is "when does the second server start to `push` the second clip?" This presents a very complex timing problem.
What is desired is an audio/video media server for distributed editing over a network that allows clients to access media from many distributed servers or even different media files on a server to enable the playing of "edited" movies with the timing controlled by the client.